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Braid

Entry updated 27 June 2018. Tagged: Theme.

Term used to designate a Shared-World anthology or book-length tale whose individual parts, written by different hands, are edited – generally by the proprietor/editor of the shared world – so that their beginnings and ends weave (or braid) into one another, and the whole tells a unified story. When done properly, braids (also known as braided stories) can generate a chronicle-like sense in the reader – an effect attained also by successful Fixups, which can in this sense be describable as one-handed braids. It is probable that Robert Lynn Asprin created the first full-scale braid in sf or fantasy with his Thieves' World sequence from 1979. Further examples of braided anthologies include the Merovingen Nights sequence created and presided over by C J Cherryh and the Wild Cards sequence – some titles of which are designated through subtitles as mosaic novels, a term which does not markedly distinguish them from braids – created and primarily edited by George R R Martin. [JC]

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